Jason Aldean's 'Dirt Road Anthem' (April 2011)

The song's authors, Brantley Gilbert and Colt Ford, had already released their own versions of the rural nostalgia tune "Dirt Road Anthem," each featuring the other's vocal contributions, when Jason Aldean put his own out as a single. Aldean not only sang the chorus hook, but rapped the verses too, getting an assist from Ludacris on the remix. As a proven arena headliner and hitmaker making his inaugural venture into this territory (he'd return with "1994"), Aldean became the first act to take a true hick-hop song to the top of the country chart.